On 8 November 2024, the Open University of China (OUC) and the Health Human Resources Development Centre of the Ministry of Health (HHRDC) held a joint working group meeting for the "Vocational Skills Training Project for Health Professionals" in Beijing.
Zhou Tianming, vice president of the OUC; Fang Jianning, a member of the Party Committee and deputy director of the HHRDC, as well as heads of relevant departments and personnel of the project office from both sides, totalling around 20 people, attended the meeting. The meeting was presided over by Hu Yang, director of the OUC's Department of Social Education.
The meeting primarily focused on a work report regarding the overall implementation of the project over the past three years. In-depth discussions and exchanges were made on the existing problems and the plans for the next step. Recommendations were reviewed for updating the project team and project office member lists, as well as the stage summary report and other related documents.
Zhou Tianming stated that as an important platform for lifelong education in China, the OUC places great emphasis on the development of non-degree education, particularly in training talent urgently needed by various industries. He proposed that the project should reflect the education quality, enhancing its appeal through high-quality courses and teaching, and relying on social evaluation to assess the results. The next focus of work will be the upgrading and iteration of course resources, which will provide strong support for improving teaching quality, ensuring the stable development of the project, and building the project's brand influence.
Fang Jianning highly recognised the achievements of the cooperation between both sides over the past three years and emphasised that talent is key to promoting the high-quality development of the health undertakings and advancing the construction of a Healthy China. He stressed the importance of analysing the demand for skilled talent and development trends of the industry. Efforts should be made in areas such as the overall upgrading of the project, innovation in talent training models, and dynamic project management. Furthermore, the project’s quality assurance system should be further improved, and the development of technical elements should be strengthened. They are all essential to facilitate the healthy and orderly development of the project and promote the construction of a skilled workforce in the health sector.
Hu Yang reviewed the achievements made over the past three years in areas such as building the project resource system, exploring talent training and operational mechanisms, and establishing channels for the evaluation of health talent training. He believes that in the next phase, efforts should focus on upgrading the project and improving its quality. This will require strengthened overall planning, thorough market research, and project design, while leveraging the respective resource advantages of both sides. Additionally, greater emphasis should be placed on brand building and promotional efforts.
To further ensure the high-quality and sustainable development of the project, the project team has defined the key focuses and goals for the next phase. Through collaborative efforts, they will carefully summarise experiences in areas such as course resource development, training models, and quality evaluation, while actively exploring new models for serving talent development in the industry. The aim is to make a greater contribution to serving the Healthy China strategy.
Contributed by Department of Social Education
Photo by Zhuge Huanyu